The Brewers acquired Civale from the Rays on Wednesday in exchange for minor-league infielder Gregory Barrios, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports.
Civale has an ERA north of 5.00 through 17 starts this season, but his xFIP is almost a full run lower at 4.09, and he should help stabilize the rotation for the division-leading Brewers. Shane Baz was scratched from his scheduled start for Triple-A Durham on Tuesday and appears a likely candidate to replace Civale in the Tampa Bay rotation.
Civale (2-6) was tagged with the loss against Washington on Saturday, allowing two runs on six hits and four walks while striking out two batters over 5.2 innings.
Civale threw only 58 of 102 pitches for strikes and handed out four free passes, but he managed to mostly weave out of trouble and finished one out shy of a quality start. Nonetheless, he ended up in the loss column since the Rays' offense gave him only one run of support. Civale has gone 14 straight outings without a victory, and he hasn't pitched well overall with a 5.79 ERA over that span. The right-hander has been better of late, however, giving up two or fewer earned runs while hurling at least five frames in five of his past seven starts.
Civale did not factor into the decision Sunday, allowing one run on three hits and a walk over five innings against the Pirates. He struck out three.
Civale was pulled after having tossed a season-low 61 pitches over five effective innings, with the only blemish coming in the form of a Bryan Reynolds fourth-inning solo homer. It appears this was more of a managerial decision due to the heat and the Pirates having the top of the order coming up for a third time as opposed to any type of distress for Civale, who rebounded from his previous outing when he was chased after failing to complete four innings. Civale has struck out 79 in 76.1 innings this season and will carry a 5.42 ERA and 1.39 WHIP into his next start, currently slated to take place next weekend when the Rays welcome the Nationals to Tampa for a three-game set.
